and it may have taken place at Cardigan castle. It was at this banquet that Cadwgan's son, Owain, fell in love with the beautiful Nest, who is known as the Helen of Wales. Nest was the daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr and the wife of Gerald, Constable of Pembroke castle, but Owain later carried her off, perhaps from Cilgerran castle. About 1171, the Lord Rhys fortified Cardigan castle in stone and lime Soon afterwards, in 1 1 76," he held a great meeting in Cardigan. This meeting has been described as the first eisteddfod. It was pro- claimed twelve months in advance, and competitors were invited, not only from Wales, but from England, Scotland and Ireland. The competitions were for poetry and music, and the prize, in each case, was a chair. Whether or not this meeting was an eisteddfod, it is clear that for the Lord Rhys, ruler of lands in Dyfed and Ceredigion, the old traditional culture had not yet been destroyed. Eleven years later in 1188, the Lord Rhys entertained Archbishop Baldwin of Canterbury when he came to preach the crusade near Cardigan bridge. 7 The Archbishop was accompanied by Giraldus Cambrensis, the grandson of Nest. Giraldus describes his visit to Cardigan in his Itinerary We slept that night in the monastery of St. Dogmaels, where, as well as on the next day at Aberteifi, we were handsomely entertained by Prince Rhys. On the Cemmeis side of the river, not far from the bridge, the people of the neighbourhood being assembled together, and Rhys and his two sons, Malgon and Gruffydd, being present, the word of the Lord was persuasively preached both by the archbishop and the archdeacon, and many were induced to take the cross Giraldus draws our attention to the noble river Teifi which abounds with the finest salmon, more than any other river of Wales He is very struck by the beavers which then lived in the river. The river Teifi says Giraldus, was another singular particularity, being the only river in Wales, or even in England, which has beavers'. The Settlement at Cardigan was strengthened in 1199, when Cardigan received its first Charter.8 The privileges granted to the burgesses in this Charter regarding tolls imply that Cardigan was already a trading centre. (A market had been held every Saturday at Cardigan, from its early years as a town, as stated in a royal letter dated 4 February, 1227 this weekly market continues to the present day.) Cardigan harbour was the centre for trade with places in the Teifi Valley, as well as having an extensive sea trade, and there were close connections with Ireland in 1282 William Cardigan was one of the jurors summoned by the Sheriff of Cork. Salmon, found in the River Teifi in abundance until fairly recently, provided Cardigan with a fishing industry, which sometimes conflicted with the use of the river for navigation. Edward II ordered the weir at